Developing a holistic framework for analysis of destination management and/or marketing organizations: six Danish destinations

This paper presents a holistic framework for analysis of destination management and/or marketing organizations (DMOs) and explores how these work in a highly complex tourism environment. Six destinations are investigated through 61 qualitative interviews with representatives from tourism businesses and organizations. The analysis reveals a number of important factors, including whether the DMOs are focused on survival or development, on experiences or communication, and on internally or externally oriented governance. Finally, it reveals that Danish DMOs constantly negotiate between their various roles at the destination, creating discrepancies between ideals, goals and practices.     

Critical success factors for tourist destination governance in times of crisis: a case study of Antalya,Turkey

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to identify the critical success factors for the development of crisis management and strategy for the governance of the tourist destination of Antalya, Turkey. Data was obtained from in situ interviews, participant observation, and documentation. Interviews were conducted with the main tourism stakeholders representing both public and private sectors in Antalya. Findings show that the critical success factors of responsiveness, shared roles, strategy formation, and collaboration are vital for effective crisis management. The study also highlighted the fact that in the area of shared roles and collaboration, encompassing the characteristics of coordination, communication, cooperation, and knowledge transfer, stakeholders are proving ineffectual, thereby obstructing the development of necessary strategies for crisis management and the recovery process. Further, ineffective governance, adopted by local stakeholders, has had a substantial negative impact on the process of developing future effective crisis management strategies.     

Destination management organizations and destination marketing: adopting the business model of e-portals in engaging travel agents

ABSTRACT

Destination management organizations (DMOs) have an important role in engaging stakeholders in collaboration. Collaborating with stakeholders is useful for both stakeholders and destinations. However, it takes time and needs rigorous coordination to avoid conflicts with stakeholders. This study measures travel agencies’ attitudes towards engaging in online collaboration with DMOs for marketing purposes. It incorporates collaboration and technology acceptance models to predict the attitudes and intentions of travel agents using structural equation modeling. Data were collected from travel agents in Cairo, Egypt, using the random sample technique. This study will be useful for travel and tourism stakeholders and governmental marketing bodies.     

Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature

This article presents the first narrative analysis of the areas of research that have developed within the destination marketing field since its commencement in 1973. Given the broad extent of the field, and the absence of any previous reviews in four decades, a key challenge is in providing a focus for such a disparate body of knowledge. The review is structured around one principal question: ‘To what extent is the Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) responsible for the competitiveness of the destination?’. In pursuit of this underlying question, we address a number of themes including nomenclature and the DMO, the evolution of the destination marketing literature, competitiveness as the DMO reason d'être, and DMO effectiveness including issues of branding and positioning, and future research themes in the field.     

Building composite indicators in tourism studies: Measurements and applications in tourism destination competitiveness

Composite indicators are useful tools to synthesize and monitor multidimensional phenomena. The aim of this paper is twofold: to offer the methodological foundations to build composite indicators in tourism and to evaluate a set of currently available composite indicators. Tourism destination competitiveness indicators constitute the object of this contribution. Their definitions, concepts and measures are analyzed and their evaluation is performed through the application of an original protocol. The results highlight that several methodological issues still surround the measurement of destinations competitiveness indicators. This paper provides tourism scholars and practitioners with a set of statistical guidelines to build composite indicators and with an operative scheme to assess indicators' effectiveness in empirical evaluations.     

Determinants of tourism success for DMOs & destinations: An empirical examination of stakeholders' perspectives

What is tourism success? Specifically, what does tourism success mean for a destination as opposed to a destination management organization (DMO)? The main objectives of this study were to examine the concept of tourism success as it relates to both destinations and to DMOs, and to determine if a relationship or distinction exists between the two. Eighty-four (84) knowledgeable tourism managers and stakeholders from twenty-five (25) Canadian destinations were interviewed. Responses were used to identify variables and build a model that supports the existence of a relationship between the success of tourism destinations and DMOs with respect to community relations, marketing, and economic indicators. Unique to DMO success were supplier relations, effective management, strategic planning, organizational focus and drive, proper funding, and quality personnel. Unique to destination success were location and accessibility, attractive product and service offerings, quality visitor experiences, and community support.     

A strategic framework for terrorism prevention and mitigation in tourism destinations

Tourism destinations and tourists have always been ‘soft targets’ for terrorist activities. Although it is widely acknowledged that it is no longer a question of ‘if’ terrorists will strike but rather a question of ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘how prepared’ the destination is to deal with them, the crisis management frameworks proposed by the literature appear to offer little help to tourism authorities in the development and implementation of a strategy aiming at the prevention and mitigation of terrorist attacks. This paper first discusses the premise that Destination Management Organizations can and should play an active role in the co-ordination of tourism stakeholders in addressing the threat of terrorism. Then, based on the analysis of interviews with 16 experts on terrorism and tourism, it offers a framework for the development and implementation of a destination-specific anti-terrorism strategy.     

Role of destination competitiveness and national corruption in hotel performance: A study of developing economies of Central America

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between destination competitiveness (DC), national corruption and hotel performance (HP). A panel data analysis was applied to the Central American region. The results reveal that corruption has an impact on DC and HP. Such findings are important for the region as many of the countries are battling high levels of corruption while developing tourism industry. In addition, DC was found to have a unidirectional impact on HP. These findings provide a number of theoretical and managerial implications, reinforcing the role of a “shadow” economy and the importance of tourism.     

Obstacles to achieving cross-border tourism governance: A multi-scalar approach focusing on the German-Czech borderlands

This paper aims to identify distinctive obstacles to the establishment of tourism destination governance in both transnational and within-country borderlands. Analysis of the German-Czech borderlands, a region also incorporating within-country borders between three German federal states, indicates the multi-scalar and political contestations of cross-border tourism collaboration. Local tourism projects are generally successful, both on a transnational German-Czech level and between the German states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia. However, structural cross-border destination management does not exist because of (transnational) multi-scalar institutional alignment problems and (internal) tourism-specific destination-level power contestations. Understanding destination management processes in borderlands, therefore, requires: (i) explicit multi-scalar analysis; (ii) recognition of both transnational and within-country contexts; (iii) more cross-pollination between tourism planning and cross-border governance research.     

Understanding strategic alignment for destination marketing and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games: Implications from extracted tacit knowledge

Major international hallmark events, especially the Olympic Games, represent a significant opportunity for marketing tourism to the host country. Due to the scale and importance of the event, the coordination between the Olympic organizing committee and the destination marketing organization of the host country becomes a knowledge-intensive and exceptionally complicated task. Analyzing on-site interview data collected from top executives of the two major organizations involved in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (ATHOC and GNTO), this research achieved two objectives: (1) extracted and organized the tacit knowledge from both organizations to discover major issues concerning the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, and (2) identified the strategic alignment issues between the domains of Olympics planning and destination marketing and proposed a conceptual framework for the future Olympic host countries.     

Analyzing travel mobility patterns in city destinations: Implications for destination design

Understanding the features of travel activities is important in elaborating travel behaviors and segmenting travelers based on the similarity of activity patterns. This research applying mobile big data analytics suggests a novel method to classify travelers by considering the sequences of travel activity with individuals' trajectories. The result revealed five distinct travel types visiting city destinations and demonstrated dynamic travel flow among different mobility types. Recognizing that different types of travel patterns present important information in understanding destinations’ roles (or functions), this study attempts to characterize the functionality dynamics of city destinations based on travel activity types. As a result, the findings of this research provide insights into the demand-driven construct (or flow-based) of destination planning, which is the foundation of smart destination design. In addition, important methodological and practical implications that could be useful for city destination planners/designers are suggested.     

Lodging management success: Personal antecedents,achievements, KSAs and situational influencers

This study investigates the influence of personal antecedents and achievements (i.e. intrinsic attributes, personal character, strategic positioning and academic achievements) on lodging management knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) and success. The findings reveal that correlations between intrinsic attributes, personal character and strategic positioning, and KSAs are generally stronger than the correlations found between academic achievements and KSAs. Knowledge in financial management and other situational influencers was determined to contribute most to managers’ career success. Also strategic positioning was identified as a moderating variable between KSAs and monetary success.     

Global trends in length of stay: implications for destination management and climate change

Abstract

Length-of-stay (LOS) is a key parameter in destination management that determines the number of guest nights relative to arrival numbers, with concomitant repercussions for revenue generation and other performance indicators. This article investigates the development of LOS for 32 destinations in developed and emerging economies as well as Small Islands and Developing States (SIDS). The analysis is based on UNWTO data for 478.5 million international tourist arrivals, or about 40% of the global total in 2015, for the years 1995–2015. Results show considerable differences in LOS between destinations, with a global trend of falling LOS, by 14.8% over the study period. However, in individual destination countries, LOS was found to be increasing. Analyses of LOS trends reveal that these can neither be explained by distance–decay relationships nor business to leisure arrival ratios. Results are discussed with regard for destination management and revenue optimisation, transport infrastructure needs, as well as sector greenhouse gas emissions.     

Reassurance or reason for concern: Security forces as a crisis management strategy

This paper examines effects of the deployment of security forces to a popular winter migrant destination faced with a unique humanitarian crisis situation. The study surveyed past winter migrants to the region to evaluate their perceptions regarding sociocultural, economic, and psychological impacts of security forces deployed to the region. In addition, this study evaluates the deployment's impact on satisfaction with life in the region, return intention and likelihood of recommending the region to others to find that perceived safety from the security forces significantly affected community factors and that satisfaction with life fully mediated community factor effects on destination loyalty. These finding significantly add to the limited research in crisis management response effects and substantiates the use of signaling and signal crimes perspective in managing crises.     

Power dimensions and influence reputation in tourist destinations: Empirical evidence from a network of actors and stakeholders

There is consensus among scholars and practitioners that planning and marketing of community-structured destinations requires a cooperative approach among numerous different actors. It is alleged that power plays a central role, in building the influence reputation of actors in such a cooperative network and thus is important in planning and decision-making. However, there is little empirical evidence with regard to the dimensions of power in a destination community context. This paper contributes to the understanding of how power is perceived by different individuals and stakeholder groups in an actor’s network of an Alpine tourist destination.     

A review of tourism and climate change mitigation: The scales,scopes, stakeholders and strategies of carbon management

Tourism needs to reduce emissions in line with other economic sectors, if the international community's objective of staying global warming at 1.5°-2.0 °C is to be achieved. This will require the industry to half emissions to 2030, and to reach net-zero by mid-century. Mitigation requires consideration of four dimensions, the Scales, Scopes, Stakeholders and Strategies of carbon management. The paper provides a systematic review of these dimensions and their interrelationships, with a focus on emission inventory comprehensiveness; allocation principles at different scales; clearly defined responsibilities for decarbonization; and the identification of significant mitigation strategies. The paper concludes that without mitigation efforts, tourism will deplete 40% of the world's remaining carbon budget to 1.5 °C. Yet, the most powerful decarbonization measures face major corporate, political and technical barriers. Without worldwide policy efforts at the national scale to manage the sector's emissions, tourism will turn into one of the major drivers of climate change.     

The antecedents of digital collaboration through an enhanced digital platform for destination management: A micro-DMO perspective

While the tourism sector shifts towards digital transformation, Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) often struggle to adapt to their changing technological environment. This study explores the antecedents of digital collaboration and develops a framework for micro-DMOs to enhance effective destination management through digital technologies. An integrated sequential qualitative approach was adopted by conducting multi-phase interviews, in addition to designing and trialling a real-world trial digital platform. The research provides empirical evidence that digital collaboration is essential for micro-DMOs, necessitating them to transform their current “websites” into digital platforms which act as a hub for business stakeholders to actively be involved in. Antecedents of successful digital collaboration include mutuality, trust, control, and leadership which may be manifested differently from non-digital collaboration. Additionally, the study identifies three aspects for digital collaboration; marketing, networking and knowledge sharing that demands specific attention. Our results have theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for academia, industry and policymakers.     

Developing an evaluation model for destination attractiveness: sustainable forest recreation tourism in Taiwan

This study explores the opinions of an expert panel on factors affecting the attractiveness of forest recreation tourism in Taiwan. Twenty-three determinants of destination attractiveness were selected by reviewing the relevant literature. The relative importance of these determinants was analyzed by a panel of experts using the Analytical Hierarchy Process method. Results show that the uniqueness of forest landscapes and scenery and special climate phenomena are two of the most important attributes determining the attractiveness of forest recreation tourism. The reliability and convenience of access to forest recreation sites owing to their remote location are also highly evaluated. The provision of high-quality accommodation and cuisine is considered an essential component to enrich visitors’ recreational experience in forest settings. The major implications for both the public and private sectors to achieve long-term sustainability are threefold: ensuring sustainable use of natural environment, enhancing the reliability of access modes to the destination, and improving the quality of lodging facilities and catering services. Together these three requirements can help create socioeconomic sustainability in remote forest communities with limited alternative employment opportunities.     

Profit Luenberger and Malmquist-Luenberger indexes for multi-activity decision-making units: The case of the star-rated hotel industry in China

Due to the vigorous economic development of the tourism industry in China, the number of star-rated hotels has rapidly increased. As a result, techniques to evaluate the performances of star-rated hotels have gained in popularity. In this paper, we develop two indexes for dynamic settings: the profit Luenberger and Malmquist-Luenberger indexes. The distinguishing features of our indexes are three-fold. One, we adopt an economic perspective by considering that hotels are profit maximizers. Two, we model hotels as multi-activity decision-making units by considering that they provide multiple services. Three, our indexes are nonparametric, and work when prices are partially observed. We apply our technique to 30 provinces during 2005–2015. We find that star-rated hotels present better performances over time, but not for every activity. Next, we highlight particular patterns for the provinces. These results are useful for managers to better target their investments, and also for policy makers.     

A thematic analysis of crisis management in tourism: A theoretical perspective

The hospitality and tourism industry for a variety of reasons is vulnerable to crises of various origins and scope. Thereby, research regarding crises in this industry has received significant attention among scholars. This study presents the results of a qualitative thematic analysis (TA) of the literature concerning crisis management in hospitality and tourism. A total of 207 research publications from 1986 to 2019 were analyzed. The findings revealed eight major themes that emerged in the literature over time. We critically discuss these themes with suggestions and directions for future research in this area. The study also identifies a shortage of scholarly attempt to conceptualize crisis management and thus explores the sensemaking perspective to shed further light on explaining the themes that emerged in the analysis.